


Daddy Lessons

by Mdeezy



Series: Bitty Comes Out [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bitty comes out, Gen, His daddy loves him, M/M, it's really sweet actually, slightly less funny than its predecessor, that's about it, there's some sad emotional stuff but a happy ending I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 23:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10707156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mdeezy/pseuds/Mdeezy
Summary: Bitty "decides" (aka is forced by his mama) to tell his daddy 'bout his handsome hockey boyfriend.





	Daddy Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of a sequel to a thing I wrote called Work it Out in which Bitty comes out to his Mama and has to convince her that him and Jack are actually dating cuz she doesn't believe him. You don't need to read it for this, but I thought I'd let you know. Also, there was a much more fitting Beyonce song title this time.

It sounded like the beginning of a joke. Two Bittles walk into a den.

Eric stood awkwardly in front of his dad’s gigantic trophy case, his body slouched and his fingers intertwined in front of him. His adrenaline was still soaring from the conversation he’d just had with his mother and he could still catch a faint hint of smoke clinging to his button-down.

The elder Bittle was sitting in his favorite navy blue recliner, the hideous and torn one that had been banned from the living room after one (or ten) too many years of service. He held his ipad aloft in front of him as he scrolled through a sports news feed with a scowl. His body language was open, but intimidating, just like always. Richard had a habit of completely filling up every room he was in without meaning to.

The easy commanding presence was great for coaching, not so much for parenting. He knew that his son found it intimidating. The boy was far too soft-hearted for his own good, never wanting to bother or upset anyone. Afraid to speak up for himself for fear of being considered a burden.

Polite to a fault that kid. Just like his mama.

It wasn’t that Eric was afraid of his father. Of course not. He was afraid of _disappointing_ him. Of not living up to his expectations and legacy.

It was the worst kind of fear. Self-imposed and corrosive. Everpresent. A lens that had colored every interaction between the two of them for more than half of Eric’s life, starting with the disaster that was his very first football game.

He would never forget the look on Coach’s face, afterward. The tense set of his jaw as his Mama stormed the field, corralling people to help scrape him up off the turf like a burnt stuck-on pancake.

It had made Eric want to build himself a paper mache turtle shell to hide inside of for all of eternity.

Alas, that solution was neither practical nor cost effective.

Instead, he chose to focus all of his time and energy on things that he loved. Figure skating. Baking. Vlogging. Things he was _actually_ good at, because if he couldn’t be a huge masculine football player like his Daddy wanted, he could at least be the very best at everything else.

Still, even as an adult, Eric had never been able to outrun this intrinsic fear of not being good enough. Of not meeting his father’s expectations.

The truth, though?

Richard Bittle was not disappointed in his son at all.

He was jealous.

Jealous that Eric wanted, had always wanted, to spend all of his time with Suzanne and not with him. That the two of them had so much in common. That Junior’s relationship with her was so easy when their own was so damn hard.

He couldn’t blame his wife and son for being close; he would never begrudge them that, but it was still kind of a hard pill to swallow. Eric was their only child, and for a time it seemed like the only thing his son had inherited from him was his name.

Richard had so much more of himself that he wanted to share. So much wisdom he wanted to impart. But he couldn’t. They weren’t close enough for that. Junior didn’t tell him things, and when he did, Richard never knew the right things to say. That just wasn’t the kind of relationship they had. They communicated mostly through offhandedly whispered football stats and milkshakes on Friday afternoons. Hockey terminology and quiet smiles from across the dinner table.

The fact that his son suddenly wanted to talk to him about something serious was both worrying and exciting.

Richard sat his ipad aside and cleared his throat.

Junior was still standing there, not meeting his gaze. The silence was already starting to become awkward.

“Sit down, son.” he said finally, figuring that Eric would stand there looking like he was being scolded for hours if he didn’t say something to spur him into action.

Eric sucked in a breath and pried his hands apart before walking over to the ancient oak writing desk and rolling the accompanying (and completely non-matching) chair over to his father’s side. He ran his delicate fingers over the back of the chair consideringly for a moment before gracefully lowering himself into it.

Richard smiled and did his best to make it a disarming one. It probably looked like a nervous twitch more than anything.

“What’s on your mind, Jr?”

Eric didn’t know where to start. He flashed back to his mother’s advice:

_There’s no one more impressive to your father than a professional athlete. You might want to lead with that._

“You know Jack?” he began, butt on the edge of his seat, legs bouncing, fists shaking, ready to bail at any second.

Richard laughed. “You mean the man who spent a whole week under this very roof? First friend you’ve had over in a decade. How could I forget?”

Eric blushed and bristled slightly. “Well um…” he cleared his throat and looked down at his lap. “Jack and I have gotten a lot closer here lately. In fact, he’s invited me to live with him after graduation.”

Richard frowned, unsure of where this was heading. “Okay, that’s fine of course. And not my decision to make, but why are you telling me this as if its groundbreaking news?”

Eric closed his eyes. _For Jack_ , he said in his mind. _For you and Jack_. He took in a breath.

“Because Daddy. We’re not moving in together as friends. Jack and I are together.”

Richard froze, his world narrowing into a tiny pinprick of perspective. “What did you just say?”

Eric’s heart was throbbing and he felt like he was gonna pass out, but he forced the words out of his lips anyway. They felt like acid and cold water on a hot day all at the same time.

“I’m gay. I’m dating Jack Zimmermann. Have been for almost a year now. And please don’t ask me to prove it to you because I doubt he’s recovered from the phone call with mama and I--”

“Your mother knows about this?” Richard cut in.

Eric put a cap on his nervous babbling and nodded. “I just told her right now. She said I better come talk to you right away, so here I am. Please don’t be upset with her.”

Richard was quiet for a moment. His son watched him with wide vulnerable terrified eyes.

Richard cleared his throat. “Okay.”

Eric opened his mouth and then shut it a few times. “Okay?”

Richard nodded. “Okay.”

A spike of irritation flashed through Eric’s body. It’s not like he wanted a big reaction out of his father, but this surprising lack of one was unnerving. Quite possibly the last thing he was expecting.

“You’re not...mad, or something?” Eric asked.

Richard turned his neck to the side until it cracked. His posture was loose and unconcerned. “Why would I be mad?”

He sounded genuinely confused in a way that made Eric’s heart pound.

“Um, because it’s not manly?”

Richard quirked a brow. “Do you really think that?”

“No!” Eric said quickly, “But I just thought...I didn’t think you’d be so...you’re really not upset?”

Richard scooted forward until he was perched on the very edge of his chair and placed a hand over his son’s knee.

“Eric. You are my son. My only son. And I’m not gonna pretend to know your world or what it’s like for you or what you had to go through growing up. But no matter what you do or who you like, I will always love you. I am so proud of you son. Always have been. It takes guts to be true to yourself in a place like this, and you’ve always tried your very best. I’m sorry if I ever made that harder for you.”

Eric was blinking away the tears in his eyes. He did not want to cry in front of his Daddy. His amazing wonderful Daddy whom he clearly hadn’t been giving enough credit.

“Did you know?” he asked softly.

“I had my suspicions,” Richard confirmed.

The tears fell. He couldn’t hold them back anymore. “Is that why were you always so hard on me? Saying I needed to be stronger and tougher all the time?”

Richard sighed and retracted his hand. “That’s part of it. Yes. Nobody wants to see their boy get hurt, Jr. The world’s not always a nice place. You know that. Seeing what those boys at school did to you…” he clenched his fists. “I’ve never been more angry in my entire life.”

Eric let out a manic and relieved sort of laugh. “I thought you were ashamed that I hadn’t been able to protect myself.”

Richard looked appalled. “The only way I could ever be ashamed of you is if you started rooting for Auburn.”

Eric laughed. “No chance. Y’all raised me right. I still have a Bulldogs keychain on my backpack even though nobody at Samwell understands.”

“Good.”

They fell into a clearer, much more comfortable silence.

“Daddy?” Eric said finally.

“Hmm?”

“Jack has a game in Nashville over New Years. Do you think it’d be okay if he dropped in for a couple of hours. I’d like to reintroduce him to you now that you know the truth.”

“As long as I get to ask embarrassing questions about why he thinks he’s good enough to be dating my boy.”

Eric flushed. “Coach…”

Richard grinned and picked his ipad back up. “This is gonna be fun.”

**Author's Note:**

> There it be. An actual living sequel of something I wrote semi-recently. Don't get used to it XD  
> @Retoondant on tumblr if you wanna talk.


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